Trolley-pole safety device



March 23 1926. 1,578,059

F. P. MYER TROLLEY POLE SAFETY DEVICE Filed March 13, .1925

a INVENTOR ATTORNEY vice of this nature Patented Mar. 23, 1926.

UNITED STATES mac-5a 'PATENT Jerri-es.

FRANK P. mYnn or EVERETT, WASHINGTON.

'rnoLLnY-Porin earner nnvron.

Application filed March 13, was. seriai-naxlaiss.

To all whom it may cgncera:

Be it known that 1., FRANK P. MYER, a

citizen of the United EBtates residing at.

pull a trolley pole down and'hold the same down in case the trolley pole jumps off of the trolley wire and the circuit between the trolley pole and-trolley wire is broken, thus preventing the trolleypole from being damaged or from damaging wires and the like with which it may come into violent contact. Another object to provide a trolieypole safety device that is-controlledby the electric current passing from the trolley wire to the car and that iscperated by compressedair. 7 Anotherobject is to provide a safety .de- -=that may "be rendered inoperative by the motorman if he so desires to'per nit the trolley pole to pass over a circuit breaker.

Other and more specific objects will. be

apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings Figure 1-is a somewhat diagrammatic view in side elevation of a car that is equipped with a trolley pole safety device constructed in accordance with my invention, and

Figure 2 is a sectional view on a larger scale of the trolley pole safety devices.

Referring to the drawings, throughout which like reference numerals designate like parts, I show a trolley car 5, having the usual trolley pole (3, provided with a trolley wheel 7, arranged to run on trolley wire 8, said car having the usual tank 10 for compressed air.

In accordance with my invention I provide means in connection with the trolley pole 6 for pulling said trolley pole down in case the trolley wheel 7 leaves the trolley wire 8 on which it is arranged to run.

I accomplish this by the use of a cylinder 11 within which is a piston 12, having a piston rod 13 in the form of a rack bar that is arranged to mesh with a pinionla on a'shaft 15 that extends crosswi e of cylinder 11 so that reciprocation of piston rod 13 will retate shaft 15 The shaft 15 prefenablv e2;- tends through the rear end of the car 5 and has a drum 16 secured thereon on which is wound a cable 17 that is secured to the upper end of the trolley pole .Vhen the piston ,rod 13 is moved downwardly the drum 16 is rotated so as to wind the cable 17 thereon and pull the trolley pole down as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1 and when the piston rod is raised or is permitted to move upward the trolley'pole willfbe moved upward bythe usual spring mechanism (not shown) connected therewith into the nosition shown by. full lines in Fig. 1. L

Thezpiston '12tog'ether with rack bar 13 is arranged to be moved downward by air pressure supplied through avpipe 18 that preferably extends to the-front end of the car 5 and thenceextends rea-rwardly and is connected with the tank 10 wherein air under pressure is. stored. A valveQl at the forward end of the car is arranged to be operated by the motorman. This valve is normally open but may be closed by the motornian under certain conditions to prevent operation of the pulLdown.device.

A three way valve 22 is provided at'the upper end of the cylinder 11 for con-trolling the in et ofcoinpressed air to said cylinder. This valvehas a handle 23 by which itinav be manually operated and is further provided vwith another handle vor lever arni 21% that is connected by a link 25 with the plunger or .core 26 of a solenoid 27. The solenoid 27 is supplied with curent from the trolley wire 8 so that when the circuit to said trolley wire is broken the solenoid will be tie-energized.

The plunger or core 26 has a head 30 arranged to be engaged by a pawl 31 that is secured to a piston 32 disposed in a chamber 33. Pawl 31 is normally urged outwardly by compressed air admitted behind piston 32 through pipe 34; that connects with the main compressed air supply pipe 18 and is prged nwardly by a. spring 35. The spring 09 is inoperative to move the piston 32' inwardly except when the air pressure behind such piston is relieved.

A spring 36 normally urges solenoid plunger 26 down and tends to hold the three way valve in a position at right angles to that shown in Fig. 2 in which position the valve will be open for the purpose of supplying compressed air from pipe 18 to cylinder 11.

In the usual operation of the device when the trolley wheel. 7 is on the wire 8 the solenoid 27 will be energized and the plunger 26 will be held up in the position shown in Fig. 2 thus closing the valve 22 so far as the supply of compressed air is concerned and opening an exhaust passageway from the cylinder 11 to the atmosphere. This prevents the operation of the device so long as the trolley wheel 7 is on the trolley wire 8 and the circuit to the electromagnet 27 closed. if the trolley wheel 7 leaves the trolley wireSand the circuit to the elcctromagnet 27 is broken, then the spring 36 instantly moves link 25 and plunger 26 downwardly, thus closing. passageway by which the cylinder 11 communicates with the atmosphere and opening a passageway from the air pressure pipe 18 into the cylinder 11. This permits compressed air to enter the upper end of cylinder 11 and drive piston 12 downwardly, thus rotating drum 16, winding up cable 1'? and drawing trolley pole 6 down into a position as shown by broken lines in Fig. 1.

As plunger 26 moves downwardly the head 80 of said plunger strikes the inclined surface of pawl 31, moves the pawl 31 to the left and, as the head 30 rides over the point of the pawl 31, said pawl snaps into engagement with the head 30 and locks the plunger 26 down, This makes it impossible for the device to automatically release the trolley pole after the valve 22 has been thrown even though such trolley pole may be brought into contact with or strike against the trolley wire as it is being pulled down by the air entering cylinder 11.

If there is no air pressure in the pipe 18 the pawl 31' is retracted by spring 35 and becomes inoperative to engage with plunger 26 when said plunger is lowered. It will also be understood that when there is no air pressure in pipe 18 the pi ton 12 can not be operated.

In trolley lines there is often a short break in the circuit wire 8 between different sections of the line. At these breaks the cars usually run across from one section to the other by their own momentum and dummy wires or tracks that carry no current are provided for guiding the trolley wheel from one-energized wire to the other. As

the motorman approaches a break of this the wheel '1 with the track 8 as the trolley 'pcle moves upwardly.

The foregoing description and accompan ing drawings clearly disclose "areferred embodiment of my invention, but it will be understood that this disclosure merely illustrative and that such changes in the device may be resorted to as are within the scope and spirit of the following claim.

I claim: I

The combination with a trolley car having atrolley pole provided with a trolley wheel arranged to make electrical contact with a trolley wire, of a cable connected with said trolley pole, a drum on which said cable is wound, means operated by compressed air for rotating said drum to wind said cable thereon and a solenoid energized by current from said trolley wire for rendering said compressed air means inopen tive when said trolley wheel is in electrical contact with said trolley wire, and means operated by said compressed air for locking and unlocking the plunger of said solenoid.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 7th day of March, A. D. 1925.

FRANK P. MYEH. 

